[Episode 220488] [Episode 220488]Tokyo was dead. How? No-one really knew, though there were plenty of theories/rumors. Military experiment gone wrong, bio-terrorism, the Wrath of God... the list goes on. Still, everyone agreed that Tokyo was dead. Oh, there was still a city there, or at least the corpse of one. But you couldn't really call it a living city anymore, what with the fact that almost all the residents themselves were no longer among the living themselves. Oh sure, they still moved around the city, but there was no way you could confuse them with anything but what they were. Moving corpses, the Undead, Zombies.
Still, that wasn't to say that everyone in Tokyo was now dead. No, when the problem became to big that simply quarantining any infected was no longer an option, there had been a move by the JSDF to evacuate all un-infected civilians from the area. And, to their credit, they'd managed to pull it off, for the most part. Still, they hadn't been able to get everyone out. Some people hadn't made it to the evac zones in time, or there simply weren't enough transports for everyone in other zones. Some had even volunteered to stay behind, so that others could take their place, because they were, for whatever reason, immune to the virus.
This is the story of four such individuals, who for whatever reason, had been left behind. The four had met through various circumstances, and were now determined to get out on their own, or go down fighting. And they knew that they had a chance, because all four of them were, for some reason, immune. Now, let's meet our heroes...
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The young man knelt in front of the makeshift graves, his hands clasped in prayer. There were four graves in total, at least right in front of him. Iother areas of the shrine grounds, there were other sets of recent graves, but these four graves were the ones that mattered to him. Four graves, with four names on the makeshift markers. Those names were: Ukyo Kuonji, Xian Pu, Kodachi Kuno, and Akane Tendo.
Still kneeling, Ranma Saotome looked up slightly, his eyes wet with silent tears. 'Whoever said that real men never cry is an idiot', he thought. He could still remember how it happened. Shampoo was the first to go, when she'd run up to that fat zombie, called a Boomer by the other survivors he'd later learned, and smacked it down something fierce, only to have the whole thing blow up in her face, literally. The force of the explosion had broken both her arms and one of her legs, as well as coating her in some stinking bile that seemed to drive the rest of the hoard crazy. They'd swarmed over her, and she hadn't stood a chance. She'd only had time for one pained scream, that was cut off suddenly in a bloody gurgle.
Kodachi was the next to go. The giant berserk zombie had seemingly come out of nowhere, throwing cars, debris, and other zombies around like they were made of cardboard. Just avoiding the flying obsticles had taken most of his concentration. Then, he'd heard that scream, that scream of pure terror, and seen Kodachi being strangled by that zombie with the really long tongue, Smokers he thought they were called, because they seemed to have smoke coming out of their very skin, on the rooftop of the nearby building. He'd tried to get to her, but the damn berserker, called a Tank he'd found out later, just wouldn't let him past. So she'd been helpless as she'd just hung there, and all he could do was watch as she choked to death.
Ukyo had been next. She'd been hit by a glancing blow from the Tank, and had gone flying at one of the ruined walls, being impailed through the stomach by a broken pipe. She hadn't even had time to scream as another hurled piece of debris had smashed right into her face with a sickening crunch, killing her instantly. This of course had sent Ranma into a rage, and he'd finally managed to take down the Tank. Of course, by this time he was exhausted. So he hadn't been able to react very quickly when one of those leaping ones, Hunters he recalled, had jumped out from the shadows right at him. Akane had noticed though, and had pushed him out of the way, only to have the Hunter rip her throat open in a single swipe.
He knew he would have been next, if not for the girl kneeling in a similar position in front of another set of recent graves maybe two meters away from him. She'd managed to take the Hunter by surprise, and even helped him get the bodies to this shrine so that he could lay them to rest, with the help of the two who now rested in their own graves, and a couple of others who were currently standing guard. They were planning on leaving soon, and Ranma planned to go with them. He knew that he owed Rei Hino his life, and Ranma Saotome always payed back his debts.
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Glancing over at Ranma through her own blurred eyes, Rei had similar thoughts in her head, mainly that she owed her own life to the boy with the blue eyes and the pigtail. She didn't think that she would ever forget just what had happened, even if she didn't want to believe it.
She'd brought over her companions to help her with the boy and the bodies of his friends, and they'd managed to get them to the steps of the shrine, when they'd been attacked again, this time by a lone Hunter. It had first leaped at Yuichiro, who'd almost managed to get out of the way in time, but had still gotten a rather nasty gash on his arm. They'd managed to take it down fairly quickly, but the damage had already been done. While she herself was immune to the infection, it seemed that Yuichiro was not.
The change had only taken about thirty seconds or so, and then the thing that was once Yuichiro had gone straight for her grandfather, and drove it's hand right into his chest. She and the others were still in shock when it happened, and then the thing had leapt right for her, and she knew she was going to die. Until the boy that she had been helping had just seemed to flow around her, grab the thing, snap it's neck, and throw it head first into what was once a steel fence, impailing it on the sharp bent metal. Then he'd collapsed.
They'd managed to get the rest of the way to the shrine without incident, where they'd been able to get a bit of rest, food, and been able to bury their dead, which brought them back to the current situation.
"Come on you two, it's time to go" said a quiet voice. Rei looked at Ranma, who looked back and nodded. They were ready. Both stood up, and headed over to the speaker, the third member of their quartet of survivors...
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(Posted Mon, 25 May 2009 16:48)
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